Dr. Shen Yuting from the research team of Prof. Cai Zongwei and Prof. Ren Kangning developed a novel sample-preparation technique called moisture-assisted cryo-sectioning (MACS).

Bacteria in nature typically grow as “biofilms”—3D communities that function similarly to urban environments. Cells within a biofilm occupy distinct locations, playing specific roles and thriving in different microenvironments, communicating through various molecules. While scientists often use mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) to map these molecules, current techniques usually treat colonies as flat “pancakes”, potentially overlooking crucial 3D structural information.

To address this issue, 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐫 𝐂𝐀𝐈 𝐙𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐰𝐞𝐢 and 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐫 𝐑𝐄𝐍 𝐊𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 from the Department of Chemistry led a team of researchers to develop a novel sample-preparation technique called moisture-assisted cryo-sectioning (MACS).

The research findings have been published in Journal of Advanced Research under the title “High-resolution 3D spatial distribution of complex microbial colonies revealed by mass spectrometry imaging”.